Alone: A Birthday Tale
by Irene Claire
Summary: A birthday fic request for Cubit and for Auntof3 - some fluffy birthday wishes. After a horrific week at work and running on fumes, Danny is in a cranky, bad mood. All he wants is to be left alone in the peace and quiet of his own home. The question is - will Steve let him? A one shot featuring a little bit of everyone.


**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

 **Notes:** _A Happy Birthday gift for Cubit with a sidebar hijacking for Auntof3. Not 'precisely' what Cubit requested, but in a way it is. The muse was intrigued by your potential to possibly celebrating your birthday alone. So, well ... I do hope you both enjoy what came out of it. Thanks to Miss Phoebe for the beta, help and encouragement!_

 _Happy Birthday to you both!_

 **H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

He closed the door against the sweltering heat of the day and took a half-step backwards to lean against it, shoulders sagging. He didn't stay there long though. His shirt was so wet from sweat, it was sticking to his skin as if someone had thrown a bucket of water over his head. Disgustingly hot water. Nevertheless, he wished someone had done exactly that as he yanked the material over his head, practically butchering it and losing a button in the process. He might have been cooler than he was was feeling right then.

"Sure why not. I hated that shirt anyway," Danny griped as he watched the button ping across his hardwood floor only to roll under the sofa and join the invisible wads of dust bunnies he hadn't bothered to vacuum up that week. He shouldn't have done that. It was his fault and he had no business being mad about it. Still, after the button disappeared, he narrowed his eyes at his ruined shirt as if the thing had done it on purpose. Stubbornly, Danny let the shirt fall to the floor before he stalked towards his bedroom.

He was in a bad mood. He'd been in one for the entire, abysmally long work week. Nothing had seemed to go right. Even the weather was against him with the longest heat wave in Hawaiian history. He knew his pity party was a pathetic self-indulgence of negativity, but he wallowed in it anyway. Just for spite, he mentally rubbed his terrible mood and bad attitude in Steve's face as he remembered the many times Steve tried to bring him to task on the subject. Sometimes mockingly, sometimes jokingly and even once or twice quite seriously, Steve had tried to shake the demon out of Danny's character. On a few prior occasions, Steve's wheedling ways had worked. However, when Danny was dug into a bad mood such as he was now, nothing could be done about it. When a sharp-tongued Williams wanted to be miserable, it was best to leave him - or her - alone and get out of the way.

And maybe everyone had realized that at the office because when he'd left for the day, no one had said so much as _boo_ to him. Or, just maybe everyone was as aggravated as he was. The long hours. The bad food. The pile of week-long mail which was likely nothing but bills which was stacked up at least five inches high in the corner of his entry way table. No matter the reason for the lack of conversation, that silence was just perfectly fine with Danny as he grabbed a change of clothes - the oldest and most comfortable he could find - from his bedroom with only one goal: a nice _cold_ shower.

Not being on call, not needing to chase leads which led nowhere, and best of all - not needing to talk to or converse with a single person for the foreseeable next two and one half days' worth of time, was precisely what he wanted. Utter peace and quiet in a solitary vacuum of alone time.

Danny sighed in relief as he closed his eyes and the water hit his face full on. Sluicing away the heat of the day never felt so good. He started with tepid water and slowly turned the limited amount of hot down every few minutes. By the time he'd acclimated himself, only the cold side of the tap was on and Danny was in his own version of heaven. He stayed there with his head bowed and his hands on the wall for a long time as the water rained down on his back until he felt justifiably cold and his brain completely and absolutely deadened.

He was stumbling over his own two feet after that and despite the relative early hour, Danny face-planted on his bed. With one arm, he squirreled the closest pillow under his chest and closed his eyes. He sighed heavily, his heart rate calming and his mood easing in the peace of his home.

He had no intention of moving at all.

Ever. Again.

 **H5O* H5O** *****

"Aloha. Howzit."

"Whu'?" Danny rasped out stupidly. Barefoot, still wearing pajamas, and now sporting a pure white floral Hawaiian Lei, Danny stared blankly into Kamekona's round face. Kamekona stared back, waiting.

"Howzit," Kame repeated patiently.

"Why'r you here?" Danny forced his mouth to work. He felt like he'd been sleeping for hours and he was incredibly disoriented. His lips were virtually glued together. And for the life of him, he could not figure out why the big Hawaiian, who was standing on his hot doorstep, had looped an overly fragrant wreath of flowers around his neck.

"Shootz. Were you sleeping?" Kame asked. "Hot today," the man added, stating the obvious. Evidently the former remark was a non-question because he brushed by Danny hard enough to rock him almost off his feet.

"Time'zit?" Danny mumbled while scrubbing at his face and shutting the door against the blast-furnace that was the outside.

"Early, bruddah, but still hot," Kame said as he ambled towards Danny's kitchen, swiping sweat from his face. "Nice in here tho." Only then did Danny realize that the man had bags of food in each hand.

"But..," Danny started to ask about that food but was interrupted by another loud knock at his door. "... are you doing?" His voice trailed off as Kame kept going and Danny frowned, waffling between answering the door or following Kamekona into his own kitchen. Opting for the door when the doorbell rang next, Danny came face to face with a cell phone. He blinked as it rapid-fire clicked, stunned into silence when Tani lowered her hand.

"Hey cranky boss," Tani said while pocketing her cell phone. Her cocky smile was radiant as she planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Yeah. Hi ... _what_?" Danny replied, dumbfounded when Tani put another Lei around his neck. She motioned behind her back and Junior stepped up, looking a bit out of sorts.

"Don't worry I'm not kissing you, sir", Junior said as he slung yet a third Lei around Danny's neck. "But, ah, this is for you, sir. This too." Besides the Lei, Junior held up a six-pack of Longboards.

"Cut the _sir_ crap and tell me ... just what the hell's going on?" Danny recovering at least some of his composure enough to make the demand as he began to wake up much faster. He glared at the two in askance, waiting for at least one to provide an answer and pointed to the six-pack, but that was as far as he got.

"Is that food? Do I smell food? I bet that's food ... I'm starving! I bet June's hungry too, right? Aren't you hungry, too?" Tani interrupted the unspoken reprimand as she eased by Danny in one fluid motion, her fingers wrapped firmly in the front of Junior's shirt to drag him along behind her. "Kitchen ... come on. Put the beer on ice; get some glasses. Let's go... come on!"

"S'cuse me sir, sorry," Junior mumbled as he lurched in Tani's wake nearly dropping the six-pack. "We're just gonna go ... to the kitchen. Yeah." He wilted under Danny's glare and yet kept going.

"Hey! Just what the hell's going on!" Danny called out as they practically sprinted towards his kitchen. "Get back here!" Ready to stalk after the trio and get to the bottom of the odd interruptions, Danny's bad mood was on the rise again as he turned back to close his front door. He stopped short of slamming it shut and was halfway to the kitchen when the doorbell rang again. Danny stopped cold in his tracks, his blood beginning to boil. He curled his fist around the rings of Leis circling his neck and then cursed under his breath when the bell rang again ... and _again_.

"WHAT!" Danny shouted as the flung his door open wide to the scorching heat. He stumbled back a step when presented with another cell phone which nearly smacked him dead in the face.

"Yo, Danny," Lou Grover drawled, grinning as he checked the pictures he'd just taken and then snorted a funny noise through his nose. He pocketed the device and tapped what looked like a magnum of champagne balanced in the crook of his arm. But then he was laughing at what Danny was wearing around his neck.

"Nice flowers."

Danny glowered at Grover and barely backed up in time as the older man calmly walked into his house, shutting the door with his foot.

"Hot out, ain't it?" Lou said companionably.

"Lou," Danny said, his voice low and his tone, measured. He pursed his lips as Lou paused by the sofa and turned. Danny inhaled sharply when he spied yet another Lei hooked over the bigger man's arm.

"No ... don't you dare," Danny said firmly, but Lou merely smiled sarcastically as he tossed the ring neatly over Danny's head.

"That'd win me something at the fair for sure," Lou laughed, pleased with his accuracy. "Did I ever tell you the time at the Chicago Worlds Fair ...there was this game on the Midway ... ring toss...," He stopped when he saw the look on Danny's face and held up a hand.

"Yeah, well, never mind. That story will hold ... it's a good one."

"Lou ...," Danny hissed through his teeth. Whatever this was, it smelled of _Steve_ and Danny was in no mood for the antics. "Where the hell is he ... I know he put you all up to this."

"Who?" Lou shrugged, his expression one of absolute innocence. "I have no idea what your talking about, Danny," Lou said. "Nope. Not a thing."

"Lou ...," Danny said with every intent of getting to the bottom of things when there was a firm knock on his door.

"You better get that," Lou said. He nodded towards the door, backing up quickly in the direction of the kitchen. "Yup, you better," Lou said just before he disappeared.

Positive that Steve would be on the other side this time, Danny was practically on his toes and ready to rumble as he pulled the door open. "Steven! I swear to God ... just what the hell ..." He started and then stalled completely.

"Eric?"

"Yo! Uncle D!" Eric exclaimed as he grabbed Danny by both shoulders to give him a small shake. Behind him and looking uncomfortable, Jerry stood holding a few white boxes. Pastry boxes by the look of them and Danny began to feel as if all the air had been sapped from his lungs. "Nice flowers, Uncle D!" Danny blinked in surprise, his mouth falling open to not a single sound as his nephew graced his neck with a fifth and then a sixth wreath. Bouncy with nerves and acting as if Danny might indeed deck him, Eric grinned at him stupidly and then bolted though the door, instantly tracking towards the kitchen with Jerry hot on his heels.

"Is everyone here?" Eric asked.

"Is everyone ... what?" Danny blurted. "What do you know about it ... _Eric_ ..." He made a grab for his nephew's arm and missed entirely, jostled by Jerry as he entered the house.

"Hey Danny," Jerry muttered inelegantly as he failed at wedging his larger body sideways through the doorway. "Sorry, man ... bit tight here. How ya doin'? I, uh ... just gonna help Eric with a few things. Be right back,"

"E-Eric! Jerry!" Danny spouted, eyes wide as his house began to fill up with uninvited guests. The spicy smell of good food was wafting to him from the kitchen now. Someone had also put music on and the hum of voices and laughter had begun to increase. Baffled and not knowing what to do, Danny spun in place. He wanted to cry when the doorbell rang yet again. Warring between anger and defeat, Danny wrapped his fingers around the doorknob and yanked it open.

There, smiling inanely. Finally. Daring him to be angry, stood Steve.

"Surprise," Steve huffed out happily despite the thunderous expression on Danny's face.

"Surprise? I'll give you a surprise! Just what the hell's going on?" Danny ground out through clenched teeth, earning a clearly amused raised eyebrow from Steve and an even bigger smile.

"Hell. You know what? Maybe a better question is why you actually rang the doorbell. Could it be because you _know_ \- you _have_ to know, Steven - that I'm probably going to kill you for all of this?"

Still smiling, Steve didn't move a muscle. Not a single one as he leaned against the door jam, his right arm up high. Hanging from the index finger of his left hand was yet another Lei. Unlike the others, this one was an intricate array of yellow and white miniature blooms. Danny looked at it poisonously as Steve intentionally let the wreath sway to and fro with a subtle motion of his hand.

Nonchalant and looking every bit like the cat who ate the canary despite the heat wave percolating around him, Steve stood there for so long without saying a word and letting that damned Lei swing back and forth, that Danny was sorely tempted to close the door in his face. But then he really couldn't with what seemed like half the precinct in his damned kitchen.

"So? You gonna invite me in, too?" Steve asked slyly. He eyed the veritable garden hanging around Danny's neck and smirked while tossing what he held almost arrogantly on that one finger.

"No," Danny replied. "No, because one, I didn't invite any of them and two, for the life of me I can NOT figure out why you'd do something like this to me."

"Like what, Danno?" Steve asked, eyes wide. For a minute he seemed honestly perplexed by Danny's own confusion and then Steve's mouth gaped and he literally gasped.

"Holy shit, Danno. Did you _forget_?"

Trying to fold his arms across his chest proved impossible with the flowers and Danny wound up gesturing wildly, his temper on his sleeve. Before he could say a word though, Steve was hustling him a few feet into his entryway and shushing him.

"You _did_ forget," Steve stage-whispered, half amused and half shocked. "Geez, I can't believe you forgot." He glanced worriedly to the door though at the obvious sound of another car pulling up in the driveway. A door slammed shut, and then another. Steve at least had the wherewithal to seem duly upset at whomever had just arrived and Danny's look became mutinous.

"More? What the hell did you do, Steven? This isn't funny ... not by a long shot," Danny griped angrily unwilling to give in and spare a single of his thoughts to what Steve was referring to. He grasped the mass of flowers in one hand and shook them dramatically, a few blooms falling to the floor. Then, he thumbed over his shoulder towards the apparent party taking place in his kitchen.

"This wasn't enough? You know I hate surprises ... what's going on? What did I forget, huh? That I just wanted a good night's sleep ... some quiet time alone without your voice yammering in my ear?"

"Danny ... take a deep breath, buddy. Because you can't be mad...," Steve begged him quickly. "You can't ...you gotta calm down!"

"Take a deep breath ... TAKE A DEEP BREATH?! I can't _what_ , Steven? YELL IN MY OWN HOUSE!" Danny shouted, interrupting whatever Steve was going to say, as a raucous round of laughter echoed from the kitchen. "I swear to God ...I just wanted ..."

"Danno?" The voice he heard from behind Steve purged all the words from Danny's head. Anything he thought he might say was gone in a heartbeat.

"Danny ...happy birthday, buddy," Steve whispered the words partially as a warning and so low, that only Danny could hear him as he moved aside.

"I ...," Danny was struck dumb to see both of his kids standing in the doorway, side by side. Each wearing Lei's which matched his own. His voice petered out and then he wound up saying nothing at all as his son and daughter began to laugh.

"Operation Danno!" Charlie shouted gleefully. "Happy Birthday!"

"Operation _what_?" Danny blurted with a stunned look at Steve who, based on his expression, was stlll more than half worried about his reaction.

"Operation Danno. It was Uncle Steve's idea; we started planning over a week ago. _Soooo_ ... Happy Birthday!" Grace explained, laughing out loud when she saw the flowers around his neck. "Nice flowers, Danno!"

She was holding a large box which was no doubt a birthday cake. _His_ birthday cake. And next to her, grinning happily, his small body practically dwarfed by the biggest bouquest of helium balloons he'd ever seen, stood Charlie.

"I ... I, _uh_ ," Danny stammered. He blinked a few times, his emotions in a turmoil. His _birthday_? He glanced at Steve, stunned. Apologetic. Utterly and massively confused about Operation Danno ... and his birthday.

He'd forgotten all about it. He really, really _had_ forgotten.

"Still mad at me?" Steve had the gall to ask as he looped the last Lei over Danny's head.

Before Danny could form a coherent reply and maybe as a helpful attempt for him to get his act together, Steve pulled him into a quick hug. "I can't believe it," Steve murmured in his ear. "You reallly ... really ... _forgot_? This is classic."

"Classic," Danny muttered helplessly while Steve thumped his back good-naturedly. "Yeah, sure is ..."

"Surprise, Danno! Happy Birthday, buddy," Steve said, laughing when Danny resorted to shaking his head from left to right and then changed his response to confirm the truth.

Danny _had_ forgotten and he didn't know what to say at all as the others joined them en masse from the kitchen. As a cold beer was shoved into his hand and Charlie let loose all of the balloons in the living room, Tani was already helping Grace take his birthday cake into the kitchen. Head spinning, bad mood forgotten and no longer alone as someone cranked up the music, Danny simply had to sit down.

 _ **~ End. ~**_


End file.
